Top Ten Tuesday: Books I picked up on a whim

Hello there! Today I’ll be participating in the meme created by The Broke and the Bookish called Top Ten Tuesdays. This time the topic is Books I Picked Up On A Whim, which means books that I’ve decided to read without knowing much about. I’ve done this quite a bit and I think it’s really fun to do! In my experience, you get really pleasant surprises. Check out my picks:

1. Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel

In 2014 I decided to do a reading challenge in which you had to pick a book by its cover, so I spent days looking through Goodreads until I saw this one. To my surprise, the book was mainly historical fiction about the tea plantations in Assam. It was fascinating.

Fun fact I learned: fields were set to create zigzag paths so the planters could run away from elephants in case they attacked, as the elephants lose speed when they don’t run on a straight path.

2. Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies

I participated in the same reading challenge in 2015 and I chose this book for its cover. I found the art out of paper really creative and beautiful and loved that the title sounded mysterious. This book is something totally different to anything I’ve ever read. Each chapter is approximately two pages long and it’s a little window into Pearl’s childhood, our main character. It’s a dark book, so don’t be fooled by its cover!

3. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King, the fourth installment in the series, just came out a few weeks ago. Everyone was freaking out about it on Twitter and Instagram and I had no idea what they were talking about. Although I had seen the covers of the series before, I didn’t know anything about the plot. Estefani (@Fiction Jungle) recommend it, so I decided to go for it without even reading the blurb. I’m in love with the series so far, so I’m so glad I listened to her!

4. The Pearl by John Steinbeck

One beautiful day during high school they placed some boxes on a corridor filled with old books for us to take if we wanted them. I, of course, spent my free period checking every book in each box and found The Pearl, among others. I hadn’t heard about it at the time and it was so small I decided to take it. It became my favorite read back then and I’m hoping to re-read it one of these days to see if I still think so high of it.

5. The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares

I was at a Barnes and Nobles and the name on this cover caught my eye. It’s from the author of the Sisterhood series, which I loved as a teen (although I never got to finish it). It was summer and I knew the author, so I decided it was the perfect book to buy at the time. It’s not the best book out there, but I enjoyed it back then.

Have you read any of these? Which books have you picked up on a whim or for its cover? Let me know in the comments!

I only have The Raven King left. I can’t deal with it, I can’t believe I read them so fast., so I’ve reading other stuff to try to make it last hahah. But later this week I’ll probably get to it, I can’t wait!

Oh man, I have not read any of these books! Boo me. Let me tell you, I am starting to think I am the only one who hasn’t picked up The Raven Boys yet and I am missing out something great out of stupidity. Maybe I need to sort my priority-tbr like right now.

I haven’t read any of these yet but I do have The Raven Boys on my TBR. I recently picked my Kindle First solely based on the beautiful cover (About the Night by Anat Talshir, Evan Fallenberg). Looking at the ones you picked here I love REASONS SHE GOES TO THE WOODS BY DEBORAH KAY DAVIES. That cover is really something!

I actually read The Raven Boys also because people were going crazy over The Raven King coming out (plus, I was trying to decide whether or not I should go for the Stiefvater book signing coming up this weekend). I enjoyed the book as well!

I had answered to your comment, but it seems that my cat stepping on the tablet at the moment messed it up, as it doesn’t appear here. Anyway, I was saying how cool and that I hope that you go to the signing! I wish I could go to things like that, but there aren’t really any in my country.

I actually read the Raven Boys as part of a read-a-long, but I had heard about it for years. Most people I knew raved about Maggie Stiefvater’s writing, so I found myself finally reading all her stuff, and the read-a-long came along at the perfect time. I wasn’t that hot for TRB, but I’ve loved all of the other books. Still need to read The Raven King, though.

Really perfect timing! I also have The Raven King left to read from the series and I’m hoping for all the loose ends that are driving me crazy to be explained/resolved. I’m really excited because people seem to be happy about it.

Yay for The Raven Boys! I’ve been wanting to reread it since forever but I haven’t gotten the chance yet, but I remember absolutely loving it when I first read it all those years ago. I also read The Pearl when I was younger.

Yesss at The Raven Boys! I picked it up because I saw a bunch of stuff on Tumblr and I’m so glad I did. The series is one of my all time favourites 😀 Reasons She Goes to the Woods has an absolutely gorgeous cover!

I’ve been trying to comment on your post, but it won’t let me. I think it might be my Internet connection 😦 I just wanted to say that walking into a bookstore without a plan is like my definition of fun, and it seems like yours too, lol. Love how big your list ended up being.

The Raven Boy’s were everywhere! I read the first book years ago (before all the hype descended) and enjoyed it but wasn’t blow away -please don’t all hate me ;). I didn’t continue with the series but with all the hype I keep thinking maybe I missed something and should try the series again.

Hahaha don’t worry! I love hearing differing opinions on books. I get that it might not be as WOW to everyone. I was just impressed with the characters and liked most of them right away. They really grow in the rest of the series, which is something that I adore.

Hi there, I'm Esther. Welcome to Chapter Adventures! I love reading and exploring as many genres as I can. Here you'll find recommendations, genre explorations, discussions, reviews, and many more book related things!